


Weak Conspiracy

by write_or_wrong72



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Fighting Parents, I really hope this story is good and if it's not I'm very sorry, Non-binary character, Pretty fluffy I guess, also Steven cries for a few seconds, headcanons, would that be called hurt/comfort?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 20:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4034086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/write_or_wrong72/pseuds/write_or_wrong72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a fit of irritation at eleven PM, Steven comes up with his most far-fetched conspiracy yet. When he seeks out his only awake friend, RJ won't have it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weak Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, Paranatural fandom, I think you guys are really cool and I wanted to contribute something.

Steven shut the door quietly as he grudgingly trudged out of his house, just in case something came up that he didn't want to hear from his mom and dad. Normally he would just roll his eyes and ignore it in the safety of his room, but his parent's last heated fight had his father bring up a small comment- a threat that rung in Steven's ears even after a week. When they fought, Steven was well aware that they let the question if their son was within earshot slide by.

He grumbled, not enjoying the fact of being outside at eleven PM, but alas, his mom had sat patiently in the living room waiting for his dad to come home to start their 'discussion.' Steven ran a hand through his chin-length hair, eyebrows already set in a scowl. It felt bad to think this, but he was honestly jealous of his three friends for all having divorced or single parents. Whatever made them decide to split up, he wished his parents would come to soon.

The be-scarred preteen continued his trudge down the main sidewalk of Mayview. Of course he knew better than to go into dark shadowy places at this hour- in the places he would hang out during daylight. Night is dangerous time to take a walk anyway, so the most he could do was make sure to stay on the roads that had most of the Mayviewian houses boarding them, streetlights guiding him down the hill.

Every step he took was one where he was just stewing over his parents for fighting. However, as a conspiracy theorist at heart, Steven's philosophy was that every problem had some source (but mostly because he knew that it's not a good idea to be mad at the hands that feed you), so he tried to find some deeper issue that would make his parents do this. Well, probably because they were married, since that and divorce were a big topic in what he would overhear. But why did his parents get married if they obviously hate each other so much? Well, love is the reason everyone gets married isn't it? That must be it, the human emotion of love was probably the base of all of his family issues.

Yeah, love had always seemed like a stupid concept anyway, hence why he and the rest of his gang avoided chick flicks like the plague, but while thinking deeply on the topic, Steven realized just how terrible of a thing it was. Jeez, the more he thought about it, the less it seemed like an emotion and more like a sickness or something that messes with the mind; making two people who hardly know each other legally give all their stuff to each- wait, legally... THIS IS ALL THE GOVERNMENT'S DOING!

Steven's eyes widened as he quickened up his pace. Of course, how had he not seen it all along? There's no way any human being could be stupid enough to believe that somebody could be their soul mate forever- the government hypnotized them all! There's no way that it was his parents' fault for having one date and then deciding to stay in the same house forever, the government tricked them! Steven started to fist-pump and congratulate himself for seeing through the lies he was fed his entire life- all in a day's work when you're a budding conspiracy theorist.

His walk turned into a small sprint to make it down the next block to appear in front of Johnny's house. Conspiracies were no good if they weren't shared, after all. Maybe if he spread the word, he could at least save his friends from making the same mistakes of his mom and dad- of making a commitment to someone you end up hating. By letting the government get into your brain!

His sneakers slid to a stop in front of the Jhonney household. Johnny's mom's car was parked in the driveway, and every window was dark. Yikes.

The scarred preteen crept up to the window he knew belonged to Johnny's room, and listened for a second for any loud noises. If Johnny was awake, it would be obvious to anyone within three yards of the red-headed bully. Likewise, with the silence, Steven concluded that the boy he loyally followed was fast asleep. That was a bit odd to Steven- he had always believed Johnny to be nocturnal. Perhaps a good night sleep was what made the red-head so energetic.

Next came the question if he should wake Johnny up or try for another best bud. Waking Johnny would probably have to be done by banging on the window, which could easily result in waking up Ms. Jhonny. This would not be so bad if Steven wasn't aware that she had a habit of yelling more and loudly than her son could ever dream when she was provoked.

Was it worth the chance to explain his findings to his gang's leader? Johnny always lent his attention to one his best buds when they had something to say, but always had something to say in return. Steven knew that the main bully was impressed by his conspiracy abilities, but that might be overshadowed by deep groggy-ness that would only add to Johnny's natural irritable attitude. The more he thought about it, he also put into consideration that Johnny might be the least of his three best friends to care about the topic at hand. Johnny liked adventure and violence, and didn't care to slow down and consider anything deep very often. Ollie, on the other hand, always put some thought into everything, and probably wouldn't mind taking a second to hear Steven out. RJ... may or may not care about the exact subject, but would listen politely anyway.

With that, Steven backed away from the window and continued down the road. He could always come back if the other two also proved to be sleeping, anyway.

To get to Ollie's house took a few steps around the corner from Johnny's house. When it came to their houses, Steven and RJ were the outliers of the gang. Johnny and Ollie could always easily walk to school together since they lived so close, and Steven usually walked on his lonesome. He didn't live that far from them, but hey, his hair takes some time to make it look as good as it does all day. Nobody has time to wait on that, and he didn't blame 'em, and took his early morning solitude with pride and amazing hair.

The preteen crossed his arms as he looked upon the building. Two cars sat in Ollie's driveway- one he knew to belong to Coach Oop, the other belonging to the girlfriend of his gym teacher. Once again, all lights were turned off. It figured- it had been a little surprising to see Johnny's light off, but the Oop family are as responsible as they come- there was no one he expected more to be diurnal than Ollie.

As he stared on, a feeling of not wanting to even try waking Ollie came over Steven. It was odd, seeing as there was less chance of him getting his ears screamed off by Ollie's dad than Johnny's mom, but he still found himself preferring the company of the red-head bully over the bald one for this situation. That only made it more odd, considering how Ollie would give way more thought to Steven's declaration of love being a type of hypnosis.

The scarred teen shook his head and decided that third time's the charm, and continued on. He didn't want to admit it, but the reason he walked away was because he didn't want someone to think hard about it. Heck, maybe he didn't even want anyone to think about it at all. He just wanted to talk, talk without being questioned. When he saw the glow coming out of RJ's window minutes later, he hoped he would get that chance.

It was uncertain- the only light on in the house was the one connected to his friend's room, and RJ's mom's car was parked in the driveway. Sure, he could knock on the door and risk waking their mother, and sure, that wouldn't be too bad. She was much like her child in the way of silence, but that worried him even more. On that sense, he would never be able to tell of she disapproved of him, therefore he could never apologize to the adult, and therefore run the risk of getting RJ grounded from spending the night at his house. Hey, it wasn't that far-fetched! For whatever reason, all of the gang's parents got nervous when told RJ would be attending their sleepovers as always, and he honestly didn't know what he could do to change their attitudes about it.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. If what he really wanted was to rant to a buddy, RJ would be his best bet; then Johnny, spare maybe a few groggy snarks and comments; and then Ollie, who would probably end up asking so many questions about the infant theory that it would form into something Steven didn't want it to.

Withdrawing a hand, Steven pulled his phone out of the pocket of his sweatshirt. If there was one thing he trusted RJ to have on hand at any given moment, it was their phone. In a minute, he had sent the simple text: 'U wake?'

'Yeah, why do you ask?' Came an almost immediate reply.

Steven stared at the phone for a second in amazement. Wow, he had forgotten how fast RJ could make their fingers fly over the button's of their cheap flip-phone. He paused longer still, not sure exactly what to say. That he was causally taking a walk? That he figured out something big? Both at the same time? As he started texting back, mid-sentence he was interrupted by a new message.

He was a bit surprised, but opened the message. 'Why are you outside my house?'

Head snapping up to look at the lit window, curtains were still drawn over it to block his view inside. Steven must not have noticed if RJ had peaked outside at him. He went back to his text box and started his sentence again, slightly modified to fit the new question. Just as he was about to hit send, the front door to the house opened.

He lifted his head up and found RJ leaning against their door frame, hands held in the pockets of a yellow hoodie. They didn't look tired in the least, and cocked their head to question Steven.

". . . Wow, RJ, thanks, you just wasted all my efforts there." Steven said grudgingly as he hit the delete button on his text.

RJ got off the doorframe. "'S not my fault you type slow."

Steven shoved his phone into the back pocket of his jeans before resting his hands inside his sweatshirt pocket. Looking to the side, he asked from the corner of his mouth, "So, wanna take a walk?"

RJ responded by stepping forward, reaching behind them to shut their front door, and casually walk over to his side.

The two began to walk side-by-side on the sidewalk. Steven didn't waste time. "So m' parents are having this big fight, right? Nothing new, but still I get outta there, and I'm walking 'round, and it hits me!"

RJ looked at him and listened intently as Steven proclaimed that there was no such thing as love- "Well okay maybe between family like parents for their kids and stuff," he quickly corrected- and that no marriage was ever meant to last because the hypnosis the government puts on people wears off after awhile, and that every marriage is bound to end in divorce.

When he finished, a silence hung over them. About this time would be where the questions would roll in, hitting all the holes in his theory and making him to develop it into a stronger one. Heck, he was even questioning himself on some things. Like, what about that old couple across the street? The government must be slacking lately, he answered himself. Come on, RJ was quiet, but must have something to say!

After a while, Steven finally got a response. It came in the form of the shorter of the two letting out an airy chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Steven asked defensively.

"Nothin', just..." A hand was put up to their mouth to hide the toothy smirk from the scarred kid's view. "You sound exactly like me three years ago."

Steven's face contorted into one of confusion. "Huh?"

"Back before I knew you guys three years ago, and was going through my whole identity crisis," RJ started to explain, bringing their hand away from their face and rubbing the back of their head instead. "I thought love was the stupidest thing ever. My mom told me I'd think differently when I got older."

Steven's expression went softer. It wasn't often that RJ spoke of the 'before times'- in fact, none of the gang talked much about their weak times, it was just a code to know that they all had their moments and that that was okay.

"I know I still don't know all of it, but I know my mom was right." RJ admitted.

"Right about... what, exactly?" Steven scratched his head, not sure where this was going.

"That I would change my mind. I did." RJ stuffed their hands in the pockets of their hoodie.

Steven let out a 'tch.' "Whatever bro, it'll take a lot more than that to break me," Steven stated with pride. Suddenly he looked down at RJ in horror. "Oh no, they're getting to you!" He grabbed the shorter child's face. "Who is it that you want to marry!? Tell me now so I can beat them away until the hypnosis wears off!" He shouted, eyes bulging.

An eyebrow lowered on the shadowy gang member, but it was had to tell with Steven squishing their face. They pushed away from his grasp enough to get their cheeks back. "I was getting to that, now let me talk!"

"You better not let any info slip from my knowledge, you slippery little shadow you." Steven hissed as he grudgingly let go of the rest of them. 

RJ straightened their hoodie and tightened up the hood a bit. "I was going to tell you that I don't think love is as one-note as you think it is." 

There was a pause. RJ was never one to be the explainer, that was Ollie's job. It took a while to think of how to word the next part.

"You don't just 'fall in love' and get married on the spot." RJ muttered. "I don't know why you think that happens, 'cause it doesn't."

"Ha, shows what you know!" Steven said proudly, now knowing that RJ was in fact under hypnosis and had no idea what they were talking about. "I know that it's a thing that happens 'cause my parents did it! And since they hate each other so much now, is only more proof. Now stop stallin', answer m' question."

RJ shook their head. There was a really long pause this time. "We're getting close to town." They informed, noticing how close they were to the shops and more brightened streets.

Steven nodded. "Eh, here, we'll sit for a bit," He moved off the sidewalk and onto the grass, and RJ followed. The hill was pretty steep, but the two were able to sit safely and watch over the lake in tranquility.

"...Steven, how much time was between you being born and your parent's wedding?" RJ suddenly asked.

Steven pondered. "'Bout a week, I think. 'S weird, right? I heard you had to be in your mom's stomach for nine months before you could be ready. Guess I've always been special, eh?"

"Got that right."

"Yeah, I've-" Steven was proud, then his face went blank. He pushed RJ over, which sent his friend into a fit a laughter. "Shaddup ya wisecracker!" He glared at his cackling friend before turning to face the lake. "You're still not answerin' my question. You 'fraid I'm gonna make you see the truth?"

RJ's laughter finally started to die down as they sat upright again, looking in the same direction as Steven. "Sorry." They muttered. "I'm not sure how to explain this... but to answer your question..." RJ tried to remember what the question was in the first place. Oh, right, the whole marriage thing. "No one."

Steven scoffed loudly. "Oh, please! You can't fight against my proof and reasoning, so c'mon, just tell the truth!" Steven was disappointed in the long silence that followed. He sighed. "Look, it's the governments doin', so, uh, you don't have to feel bad about it or nothin'." He ran a hand through his hair in slight embarrassment when he finally realized how touchy the topic could be.

This time RJ is the one who sighed. "Any other time I would agree with you, but... that's not how it works. Steven, did you know you don't have to be married to have a kid?"

Steven pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now yer just talking crazy." He said.

RJ looked at him with an eyebrow lowered. "You... don't know how babies are made, do you...?"

Steven whirled his head to look at them, mouth open in protest. After a few seconds he closed it and looked to the side in serender.

RJ's gaze lowered in worry. "I- uh- ask your mom about it. Or dad. Or Ollie. A- all I can tell you is that you don't gotta be married to have one, but you thought that you did, so I guess that explains a lot."

Steven's eyes widened. That. . . made sense. Woah, that made a lot of sense, all of a sudden. How his cousin had a baby when he could've sworn she never had a wedding, how- just, wow. But if that was true... "Then... why'd my parents get married so quick!? That still doesn't make any sense!" He yanked at the grass in fury. This was exactly why he wanted to rant without being questioned- because when his weak theory was proved wrong, he would be left with nothing but hurt feelings.

RJ stared at him with pure concern. Like every other member of their gang, RJ enjoyed Steven's conspiracies and hardly ever tried to deter him from them, but this particular topic was just too- familiar. 

All of tonight, they couldn't listen to Steven and not see themself, three years younger in his place. Nine-year-old RJ, raging to their mother about how the whole world was dumb by being so absorbed in something like romance. Then her voice reminded them that, "Kid, your not mad at love or romance or anything like that. Your mad because your starting to question the world, because your starting to notice things you don't understand. Give it some time, and your whole view will change."

She had been right. Remembering her words, RJ also realized that Steven was probably going through the same internal anger they had been in. RJ, because they were angry at the gender binary, but they hadn't really known that at nine years old, so they were mad at whatever they could blame. Steven was apparently mad at his parents, seeing as he kept bringing the two's marriage up so constantly.

After minutes of Steven yanking up grass on the hill, the hooded child finally found it in them to speak. "They... Your parents, they probably waited at least eight months to get married."

Steven looked up, but not at his friend. "How would you know?"

RJ shifted, feeling true guilt. "You said they got married a week before you were born, right?"

Steven stopped being so stiff, and rested his arms on his knees. For the first time, he was the one to hold the silence. Suddenly, his eyebrows lifted. "You don't think that, maybe, my folks got married because they had me?"

A broad smile showed that RJ did in fact think that. Steven's eyes flicked to their face, then back to the lake again. "I- I don't think... I preferred my conspiracy." He huffed, and rested his face into his arms. Through his limbs, he asked, "What made you such an expert on this, huh? You said you know what love feels like? Well, enlighten me."

Their smile fell completely. They scratched at their head through the fabric of their hood and repositioned. "I don't- I mean, I think I only know part of it."

"Go on." Steven said, still with face in arms. "Everything I know on the subject has been completely uprooted thanks to you, so you owe me."

RJ sighed. "Alright, well, I think it's something that takes stages, y'know? I think I've felt little pieces of the first stage, but not a lot of it. So, no, I'm not an expert." Even though their friend wasn't looking anyway, RJ turned their face away from him.

Steven finally looked over his arms, mostly because it was getting stuffy in his little ball of solitude. "What is this 'first stage?'" RJ made no motion to respond. "RJ, you owe me."

Another sigh. "It's like... some kind of weird shiver I get down my spine, but it feels good, because it comes from something I like... kinda."

Steven rose a brow. "A little less vague than just saying 'first stage,' but I still have no clue what you're talking about. Give me an example."

After a small whine of reluctancy, RJ muttered, "Things people say, do, look like... Sometimes when Johnny says something really inspiring; once when he punched a kid out for me when I was too sick myself;" Then they murmured something inaudibly.

"What was that?" Steven pressed.

The shortest gang member completely turned away from him. "Your hair."

Steven perked up at his mention. A sharp smile pulled at his mouth. "Oh, yeah? Elaborate."

"Uhhh... I don't know, we were all happy 'cause we just beat up these kids and we were laughin', and the wind was blowing and made your hair move and I just thought it looked, I don't know, good?" RJ spoke in broken bits, too embarrassed to speak clearly.

Despite this, a sharp, toothy smile was present on Steven's face at the knowledge. Ha, he knew he kept his hair nice for some reason! When he finally noticed how upset RJ was after admitting this, though, he placed a hand on their shoulder.

"Hey, hey, don't get embarrassed! I think I know what your talking about, and if it'll make you feel better, I felt it before on you, too." RJ peeked over at him after that, and Steven nodded proudly. "Yep, lots of times! After all, your eyes are really cute, you kno-" He almost seemed to deflate when he understood how embarrassing it was to admit he thought his friend was cute. He grabbed his own face quickly, trying to hide from his company.

RJ just chuckled. "We're even?"

"We're even." Steven assured.

RJ nodded. "Sorry that I... y'know, messed with your whole shtick."

"Don't worry about it." Steven kept his head down, but he no longer seemed embarrassed. He sounded... distant. "Hey, R- actually, never mind."

The shadowy gang member lowered an eyebrow, but let that slide. They checked their phone for the time while Steven was occupied. 12:35. At the snap of their phone shutting, they looked over at the preteen boy, who wasn't moving.

"I don't want to go home." He stated. Something was off about his voice. The short one of the duo looked him over carefully, noticing a behavior they weren't too foreign to. RJ could tell that he was trying his best not to show it, but they could see the slight shake of the scarred one's shoulders.

"UGH!" He suddenly let out an angry grunt and fell to his side, curling his legs to his chest as he clutched his face with his hands.

Their concern for their best friend was back. Scooting closer, they said in a careful voice, "Steve-" and stopped. Honestly, RJ had assumed they were the only one of the gang who ever cried. What were they supposed to do? They couldn't just grab him by the sweatshirt and force the tears away like Johnny always did for the hooded one- Johnny was trying to make RJ tougher, but Steven was already tough enough on his own.

"Y'know what my dad said the last time they fought, RJ?" Steven asked quietly past a few shuddery breaths. He gulped down a lump in his throat. "He said to my mom that if things keep goin' like this, he'll move to his brother's house on the other side of the country and take me, and I'd- I'd never- see my best friends again..."

Green eyes widened. They sat there next to him in complete uncertainty.

"Why would they- why would they ever marry each other because they had me, if they're going to just- go off and do something like that?"

A hand rested on Steven's head. It wasn't an experienced touch in the slightest. Where Steven's mother would have lightly stroked his head when he was young and had the flu, RJ's hand was much heavier and did more of a slow, patting motion. "I, uh. . ." RJ started slowly, looking to the side. "Think you should talk to your parents... about that." They said with awkwardness to match their intimate gesture.

Steven sniffed. "Where would I even start?"

"If, uh, what your dad said was true?" RJ put their head down. "I really hope it wasn't."

Steven rubbed his eyes with his hand and nodded his head, even though it was pressed to the grass. "You and me both." He sat up. RJ retracted their hand, scooting over. "Heh, you know, I went to talk to you about this because I thought you'd have the least to say about it, but boy was I wrong. But I'm glad you surprised me-" He suddenly grabbed RJ and hugged them by the shoulders, rubbing the top of their hood in a mock-noogie. "I finally got some insight of that shadowy-head of yours!"

After the surprise of the hug, RJ mirrored Steven's wide smile with one of their own. "Yeah, well, you know."

Steven let out a chuckle and released them. "And lucky you," He started, before doing an over-exaggerated hair flip. "You got to touch my amazing hair!"

He could almost feel the blush creeping up under RJ's shadowed face, and grinned proudly about it. "Heheh... Hey," He went over the conversation he and his best friend had gone through the whole night, and realized that it had been the most intimate one he's had in a long time. Good lord, he already felt nervous at the idea if the other two members of the gang heard about it. "If we can keep this whole thing a secret between just you and me, I'll let you touch it again sometime." Steven offered.

RJ smiled back at him bashfully and nodded, honestly worried at what Johnny would do if he heard about anything that happened tonight. A small blush dusted Steven's face, but he didn't realize. "Come on," He said standing up, giving RJ a hand.

The smaller preteen, when the two reached the sidewalk, didn't immediately let go. Noticing this, Steven snapped his head down at their hands, his blush becoming much stronger. At that, RJ let go with a wicked grin, winked at Steven, and dashed down the sidewalk.

Steven gasped. "YOU-!" He yelled, chasing after them.

"Dude, hush! It's practically one AM!" RJ called back with glee.


End file.
